This is what the bible has to say about loans:

The rich rule over the poor,
and the borrower is servant to the lender

- Proverbs 22:7

why dont you people work a few years to be able to afford your tuition rather than taking ridiculous ammounts of loans from banks and institutions? most of you will never pay it off...when you do, you will have borrowed more, and you will have been enslaved.

Remember kids, you can not borrow to get out of debt, so when you have $60,000 piled up, do not consolidate it, your interest (usury) rate will be higher.

You can either enjoy your indebted life or make the money yourself and pay cash, its up to you.

lol "good" debt, listen to yourself calling interest rate low...

1. Any interest rate is bad
2. They want you to beleive that it is "good" debt
3. Student loans are for suckers, ask any banker, oh wait...they wont tell you that

Actually getting manageable loans is not a bad idea. Like Stringer said, why am I going to the Bible for financial advice, I barely go for spiritual advice as it is. Loans that you can pay off help build your credit rating, which makes a whole lot more things in life easier. Buying a house, car, appliances and other major purchases are made easier. Listen to yourself, you sound like one of those end of the world/ conspiracy theorists. And your post about how you will never pay off your loan is bogus. Some people, especially ones that do co-op are able to pay off their loan even before they leave school, so stop flaming the boards with nonsense.

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UWO '12 Social Science

Oh yeah, me and Stringer are the only two idiots in the world who believe credit has value. Man we must be living under a rock. You are aware that on most things, interest only starts accumulating if you default on a payment right? So pay your bills, and enjoy what you buy instead of wasting away half your paychecks in wasteless expenditure such as rent opposed to a mortgage, paying full price in cash instead of taking advantage of payment options etc.

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UWO '12 Social Science

I can assure you that interest is always there for a mortgage, as well as most loans, and credit cards unless you pay them in full every month. There are sometimes deals that let you put off paying with "no interest for a year", but very often you do ultimately end up paying more ("3% administrative charge"), and then you really do need to know what happens should you miss a payment for whatever reason, because it might then be downright punitive.

Now, I don't want to say it never makes sense to go for these options. I personally use my credit card a lot so I can have my money sitting in my savings account earning interest longer. If I have the money to buy a car today, and they will offer me 0% or 1% interest on a financing deal over a year, it may make sense to keep my money earning interest and pay for the car over the course of a year. But they might also offer me a better price on the car if I pay them today. And then most people when they are entering into these deals don't have the money right then.

You are usually going to be better off putting $100 per month for a year into a savings account (net gain with ING's current rates: $21.67 in interest) to save up for that fancy new $1200 TV than you are buying it today and paying it + 3% administrative charge ($36 on a $1200 TV) off over a year.

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Where to begin....

"Actually getting manageable loans is not a bad idea."

Yes, yes it is a bad idea. Unless you like to give your hard earned money away.

"Buying a house, car, appliances, and other major purchases are made easier."

Anyone who buys any major purchase other than a house on credit is setting themself up for financial ruin.

"You are aware that on most things, interest only starts accumulating if your default on a payment right?"

No, no it doesn't. On most things interest starts the day after your next payment is due if you still have a balance owing. And on a lot of loans interest is factored into your monthly payments to begin with.

"Wasting away half your paychecks in wasteless expenditure such as rent opposed to a mortgage, paying full price in cash instead of taking advantage or payment options"

You are aware that a lot of stores give a discount for people that pay with cash right? They just don't advertise it. Stores lose money when people use credit cards(unless it is their own store credit card). Also, there are many other advantages to saving up and paying with cash rather than credit or "payment plans".

Example:

You want to buy a a nice big lcd t.v. worth $2000.00 and you have nothing in the bank to put towards it and can only afford 84.00/month to go towards the t.v., whether you save up for it or put it on credit. If you put it on credit you estimate it will take 2 years to pay it off in full. And your credit card charges 18.5% annual interest.

Now, you have a decision, either save up the money for that t.v. or put it on credit. Lets look at how that works out in the long run for each option.

Cash option:

You put $84.00/month into a term savings account earning 3.3% interest compounded daily and paid monthly you would have $1997.06 in your account for the tv after 2 years. Where $65.06 is interest EARNED. So you are actually only paying around $1935.00 for the t.v. And maybe much less depending on if the store offers a cash discount.

Credit option:

You take the plunge and put the t.v. on the credit card which charges 18.5% annual interest compounded monthly and you make $84.00/month payments until it is paid off. It will take you 30 months to pay off the balance, total amount paid $2511.35. That is $511.35 in interest. Now what if you decided to put the t.v. on a store credit card, lets say, FutureShop, which charges a disgusting 28.8% annual interest, while still making the $84.00/month payments, it would take you 36 months to pay off, total paid $3001.19, with $1001.19 in interest.

So...

Cash = $1935.00(or less) paid for a $2000.00 tv in two years.

Credit card at 18.5% = $2511.35 paid for a $2000.00 t.v.

Store credit card at 28.8% = $3001.19 paid for a $2000.00 t.v.

What else is there to say? lol..

So then why are my parents not drowning in debt, and finding it hard to make ends meet? They don't have lots of savings, or any extra money lying around. The reason is because they stay on top of their payments. Credit is not bad if you pay it off. I said that "You are aware that on most things, interest only starts accumulating if your default on a payment right?". You responded:
No, no it doesn't. On most things interest starts the day after your next payment is due if you still have a balance owing.
So like I was saying PAY your bills ON TIME, and you don't get charged interest. It's not that difficult a concept to understand, and obviously DON'T use a credit card or take credit if you know that you won't have the money by the time you need to make a payment.
Secondly, you misinterpreted my point on "Buying a house, car, appliances, and other major purchases are made easier.' I was referring to this as a benefit of building a credit rating, I wasn't talking about buying these items on a line of credit or credit card.
Lastly, I know I made a mistake about saying that it was better to take a payment option opposed to paying cash if possible, what can I say, wasn't thinking right, sorry.

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UWO '12 Social Science

Umm actually in my situation it's because they used their life savings to move my family out of a third world country so that we could have a better life for ourselves. They were successful back home, and as a result that would of made us targets for violence.

Good thing Canada recognizes immigrant's qualifications and doctor's,lawyers and other professionals don't need to start over from the bottom when they move here(major sarcasm in case you can't tell).

And I agree with what you are saying about how easy it is to be sucked into spending more with a credit card as opposed to being limited with cash in hand, but I have been taught to treat a credit card as cash in hand and not spend more than is required, which is what I have done so far. It's all a matter of self control, so to say all credit is bad because people can't control themselves is wrong.

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UWO '12 Social Science

Would you trust a doctor that was not educated up to Canadian standards? I wouldn't. We have different standards here and there is nothing wrong requiring everybody to abide by them. Also, things like lawyers and other professionals that are not accredited in Canada generally do not have the skills to work in those professions in Canada. What would a lawyer trained in Africa know about Canadian law?

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-Stringer

They have different standards of training. Do you actually believe that the government of Canada is discriminating against immigrants by requiring them to get licensed in Canada?

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-Stringer